New Braxton House subscribers are treated in
September 2012 to a highly unusual – and enjoyable – Braxton item (and others
can buy it a la carte): a choir recording! Recording live at Roulette, New
York, in October 2011, Syntactical GTM Choir (NYC) 2011
features a single 52-minute performance by a mixed choir of 13 voices (among
the singers: Anne Rhodes, Fay Victor, and Vince Vincent). “Composition No. 256”
(a GTM-era piece) serves as the starting and ending point, but the singers
venture in sub-groupings through several “vocal” works by Braxton, especially
“Trillium E.” The fact that we are dealing solely with voices makes Braxton’s
mechanics more accessible – it’s easier to follow sub-groups as they branch out
and then come back to the fold. An enlighting listen.

Wayside was offering the 35th
anniversary edition of this album at a very fair price, so I took the
opportunity to replace my old second-hand vinyl. The Missing Piece
(1977) is a record Gentle Giant fans like to hate – it’s clearly the point in
the band’s discography where they made a blatant move toward a larger audience,
and never looked back. After the treasures of invention found on Interview
(1976), this one is major letdown. However, it’s far from being bad. Although
4/4 was the word (“For Nobody” being the exception), Kerry Minnear manages to
insert destabilizing keyboard lines (“Mountain Time” being the most surprising
example). “For Nobody” is a classic, “Memories of Old Days” (the only song to
pass the five-minute barrier) has a lot of charm, “As Old As You’re Young”
(Minnear’s nod to Octopus-era Gentle Giant) too, and
straightforward songs like “Two Weeks in Spain”, “Betch Thought We Couldn’t Do
It” and “Mountain Time” are catchier than most are willing to admit.

Sh.tg.n (it’s pronounced “shotgun”) are a Belgian
band. A crude avant-rock/trash metal band. Singer Fulco Ottervanger borrows as
much from Robert Plant than from Mike Patton. And one of the main instruments
is a... vibraphone. Yep, it will take you off guard. Most of the songs are
short, segued (and this is a live recording), and punchy like it shouldn’t be
allowed. For the Moonjune label, this album is a very bold move – nothing in
their current catalog is as noisy or violent as this (the connection: the band
is led by Antoine Guenet, keyboardist in fusion band The Wrong Object). That
being said, I like it, and I especially like the listening curb that takes us
gradually further into the extreme: by the closer “Black Beetle”, I felt like I
was listening to some unknown early Moonchild track.[Below: Live footage of SH.TG.N.]

Since I’m already engaged down that path... I’ve
heard a lot ABOUT Behold... The Arctopus, but I had neither their debut CD (Skullgrid,
2007) or their sophomore album, just out. So here’s my initiation to their
metallized math rock. Complex and fast-paced instrumental rock on guitar, Warr
guitar and drum kit. Makes me think of Ruins, Upsilon Acrux and late-Flying
Luttenbachers. However, their music is not all about quickness and technique:
there’s depth in their songwriting. The truth is, these 33 minutes hold a lot
to digest.

New album by this unavoidable Swedish prog rock
band. And it’s a comeback album, five years after Sum of No Evil.
On first listen, I’m disappointed. It looks like Agents of Mercy is now getting
Roine Stolt’s A material, leaving crumbs for TFK. Okay, there’s a 25-minute
crumb in there, but “Numbers” is no “Stardust We Are.”